‘The Peripheral’ Review: This Chloë Grace Moretz Starrer Underdelivers On Its Promise
Imagine being able to go to the future with the help of the latest technology. Super cool right? Well since we can’t actually do it, we live vicariously through movie characters who do. Isn’t that part of why we like science fiction films? If that’s your kinda genre, gear up because The Peripheral drops on Prime Video on October 21. Created and produced by Scott Smith in collaboration with Amazon, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Athena Wickham, Vincenzo Natali and Steve Hoban, The Peripheral is a television series based on the 2014 book by William Gibson of the same name. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Gary Carr and Jack Reynor in lead roles. It also stars JJ Feild, T’Nia Miller, Louis Herthum, Katie Leung, Melinda Page Hamilton and Chris Coy among others. So, to save y’all the trouble I decided to burn the midnight oil to binge on this series and share my review of it.
The Story Of The Peripheral
This eight-episodic series follows the story of Flynne Fisher, played by Chloë Grace Moretz and her military veteran brother, Burton (played by Jack Reynor). While Flynne works at a 3D printing shop, Burton earns some income from being a virtual reality gamer. With their sick mother’s ever-rising medical bills, the brother-sister duo are barely making ends meet when Burton gets an offer to beta test a futuristic virtual reality simulation game for an exorbitant amount, all thanks to Flynne who replaced Burt in his VR game and helped him level up. As Flynne plays the stimulation game to beta test it for Burton, she ends up discovering that the game has a connection with the future world where technology has altered society to a point of no return. Soon, the games put their entire family’s life at risk as killers come after them, Flynnes goes back into the game to find out the truth about the conspiracy that poses a threat to the lives of all those around her. Virtual reality turns real for the Fishers as they battle unknown technologies to keep their heads above the water.
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Cast, Characters And Acting: In all honesty, the entire cast brings a lot to the table but the same cannot be said for the writing. I cannot help but love how Chloë Grace Moretz dominates this sci-fi series. She eases into the character with amazing grace and gives you one hell of a ride to the future and back. While I’m not a fan of a protective brother, Jack Reynor does it well. But TBH, those cliché villains were a tad bit too much. The script did not do justice to the antagonists in The Peripheral.
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Music: The thrilling background music is just as innovative as the concept of the series but it still couldn’t save the rather confusing film.
Visuals: Since I had to watch the screeners with incomplete visual effects, I cannot say much but with the sci-fi theme, it does look promising.
Verdict: The Plot Is Lost On Us
NGL, the series does have a promising start and the initial two episodes will have you sitting on the edge of your seat with your heart in your throat waiting to find out what happens next. But it soon leads to utter disappointment as the plot gets messy, confusing and rather difficult to follow. The narrative is great but you’ll eventually find yourself lost between the parallel universe and the future. It starts with a breakneck pace but slows down to a point of no return. The Peripheral has some kickass action sequences but they have little weightage since the convoluted plot soon turns mind-numbing. The characters are half-baked with missing backstories making it extremely difficult for a viewer to even vicariously live through them, let alone understand them or feel invested. But at the same time, the cutting-edge technology shown in the series is extremely innovative and intriguing to watch. Having said that, I must add that this show has a lot of potential and promise but whether will it deliver in the next season remains to be known. More importantly, will it keep us engaged long enough to watch the next season? Well, I don’t think so but hey, to each their own.
